Recently, the reports of professional athletes being seriously addicted to gambling have become quite common. In fact, it turns out that Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) players are no exception at a time when problem gambling on the territory of Ireland is spreading unchecked to an unimaginable extent.
Currently, the gambling industry is one of the largest sectors in Ireland’s economy, with sports betting being referred to as the most popular gambling activity among local players, followed by lotteries and casino slot games. Land-based casino sector currently generates only a small percentage (approximately 1.5%) of the country’s gambling revenue, with the majority of the money inflow being contributed by online gambling operations.
The Irish gambling sector has grown immensely from its value of €1.7 million in 2007. For the time being, six major gambling sectors exist in the country, including the National Lottery, with between 2,000 and 3,600 people expected to be employed in local casinos by 2020, and the sector’s payroll set to rise as high as €107 million.
According to reports, all those factors encouraged common people, and especially professional athletes, to play more which is why they often get addicted to online casino games and sports betting.
Gambling Addiction Rates in Ireland Constantly Grow
As mentioned above, many Gaelic Athletic Association players have openly confessed that they have been dealing with some problem gambling issues. One of the members of the Galway senior team, Davy Glennon, confessed that he had become a gambling addict and shared that problem gambling had negatively affected his relationship with his family, co-workers and employer. Mr. Glennon faced more than 20 charges of theft and was brought to court, with him eventually paying the stolen money back and receiving professional help to deal with the problem.
For some time now, charity organisations engaged in helping gambling addicts in the country have warned that problem gambling is just as dangerous as other addictions and can literally ruin more vulnerable people’s lives. Such charities have blamed both land-based and digital casinos for offering various incentives such as free bonuses to people in order to make them continue gambling.
Online gambling has been considered even more dangerous than land-based casino and betting options, as the Internet has been offering literally a huge variety of gambling and betting options which could even be accessed by children.
It is more than clear that Ireland needs more up-to-date gambling legislation in order to deal with the possible negative consequences associated with gambling. The Irish Republican Party Fianna Fáil has previously cast the blame to the local Government for deliberately delaying the release of the new gambling legislation and insisting that the legislative and regulatory framework of the country needs to be changed in order to make it more flexible and player-protection oriented.
In addition, considering the constantly increasing number of gambling addicts among both common people and professional athletes, the Fianna Fáil party also insisted that stricter rules need to be implemented to regulate gambling in Ireland, including in terms of aggressive gambling advertising aimed at pushing more people to gamble.
- Author
Daniel Williams
